In recent years, services in which a content provider server transmits content to a user terminal through an Internet protocol (IP) network have become popular. For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-9-37225 describes a service in which a content provider server distributes moving image information to a terminal through a communication network. The service is a download service or a streaming service (e.g., a video-on-demand streaming service).
When using the download service, the user terminal begins playback of the content after the moving image information is received from the content provider server. In contrast, when using the streaming service, the content provider server transmits streaming data to the user terminal in response to a user request. As the streaming data is transmitted, the user terminal plays back the content corresponding to streaming data that has been received. The user can send a request to the content provider server to fast forward the content, temporarily halt playback of the content (e.g., pause or stop), play the content at a variable speed, and/or other perform other playback operations.
However, continuity is not guaranteed between the streaming data transmitted to the user terminal before and after a temporary halt. When the user terminal resumes playback after the temporary halt, problems such as rewinding the content (i.e., playing back the content from a prior point) and disruption of the video and audio may occur.